PDS Unveils New State-of-the-Art STEAM Center

Sep 15, 2017

Princeton Day School announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art STEAM Center in the Upper School. The space, which is already being used by students and faculty for a variety of new science, technology, engineering, arts, and math interdisciplinary courses, is a state-of-the-art expansion of the current facilities, covering more than 2,000 square feet of space on the Upper School math/foreign language corridors. (Incidentally, the math and foreign language classrooms were also completely renovated and study spaces added.)

The STEAM Center is the fruit of the labors of the PDS STEAM Committee, led by Head of School Paul Stellato and Scientist in Residence and Committee Chair Dr. Leon Rosenberg, and comprised of faculty from all three divisions and key leadership staff. The STEAM Committee worked tirelessly last year to not only design a new space for the STEAM program, working closely with architects from Architectural Resources of Cambridge, but also to invigorate and expand the current STEAM curriculum.

The new Center is open, well-lit, flexible, modular, and includes a minimum of fixed structures to better accommodate a wide variety of hands-on courses. There is a large classroom area and an adjacent smaller classroom to house the computer science classes, along with an office for the School's new STEAM Coordinator Jonathan Tatkon-Coker, who has a background in product design for companies including Apple and Nike.

The renovation began the day after commencement in June, and was completed right on schedule before school started thanks to the round-the-clock crews organized by Director of Major Projects Ron Tola. There are plans underway this year to create similar STEAM Centers in both the Lower and Middle Schools, as Princeton Day School continues to expand and sequence the STEAM curriculum across all divisions. For more, visit www.pds.org/academics/steam-initiative

Princeton Day School is an independent, coeducational school educating students from Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 12.

Work by RVCC Visual Art Alumni to be Exhibited

Sep 18, 2017

Raritan Valley Community College’s (RVCC) Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department will present Continuations, an exhibition featuring artwork by RVCC alumni, October 2-20, in the Art Gallery at the College’s Branchburg campus. The show is being coordinated by RVCC Art Gallery coordinator and VAPA faculty member Darren McManus.

An Artists’ Talk will be held Friday, October 6, from 5-6 p.m. A reception will follow from 6-7 p.m. Both are free of charge and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibition will feature recent work by 33 RVCC visual art alumni in an array of media including animation, ceramics, drawing, furniture design, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Recent visual art alumni were given the opportunity to submit up to five newer works for review. VAPA faculty members Darren McManus and Ann Tsubota made the final selections for the exhibition.

Princeton—The Anne Reid ’72 Art Gallery at Princeton Day School is pleased to present the Visual & Design Arts Faculty Exhibition, on view from October 16 through November 9, 2017. There will be an opening reception with the artists on Friday, October 20 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

Continuing the strong tradition of arts at Princeton Day School, members of the visual and design arts faculty will present work they have recently completed in the gallery. This exhibition will include work by US architecture teacher David Burkett, Upper School video and fine arts teacher Jerry Hirniak, Upper School furniture design teacher Chris Maher, Lower School art teacher Jennifer Gallagher, Visual Arts Department Chair and MS art teacher Susan Reichlin, and Middle School art teacher Karen Stolper. The exhibit will also include work by two new faculty members, Upper School photography teacher Thatcher Cook and ceramics teacher Eric Rempe.

Thatcher Cook is an accomplished photographer who has worked with the Josef and Annie Albers Foundation in Senegal, with the CHAI organization in Darjeeling, with Refugees International in Bangladesh, and with Mercy Corps in more than thirty countries. In 2007, Mr. Cook received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the Islamic youth

culture in the Ferghana Valley of Kyrgyzstan. He has served as an advocate for refugees and stateless people, which has resulted in policy changes in governmental and NGO organizations.

Eric Rempe comes to Princeton Day School after a distinguished career as a master ceramics instructor at Coronado High School in Coronado, CA. After receiving a B.F.A. in Ceramics from Penn State University, and a M.F.A. in Ceramics from San Diego State University, Mr. Rempe has had an extensive career exhibiting his ceramics throughout the nation. In addition, he is widely published, with many articles about his process as an artist. The Visual & Design Arts Faculty Exhibition is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, when the school is in session and by appointment on weekends. For more information about the Anne Reid '72 Art Gallery, please call Jody Erdman, Art Gallery Director, at 609.924.6700 x 1772 or visit www.pds.org.